Chasing Death
by Gracie Charlotte
Summary: About Tanith, set after the fifth book when Valkyrie has turned into Darquesse
1. Prologue  You are Never Alone

Prologue – You are Never Alone

I was walking down an old street, in darkness. The wind was nipping at my face but I walked on. I was alone in the rain and wind. I faced my destiny, as I should, there. A figure stepped out of a little shop and hurried past me, looking me up and down like I am some freak. The first sign of life. My clothes were ripped and covered in blood, both mine and my victims, my hair stuck to my head with the rain and I was cut. Badly. Yet I walked on. There was something in my mind telling me to go, that that was the only way I could ever live again, I trusted that something and kept walking. I didn't realise before that I was crying but the tears flowed and I let them do so freely. Soon I wouldn't be able to cry so I had to get my fill whilst I still could. The village I was walking through was vaguely familiar, I may have known it in a past life, but it was unknown territory then. The figure was the only sign of life on the planet. Poor man. Everyone else was dead, all killed in battle, including me. There was one more thing I must do before I could depart to join my loved ones, someone I must kill. That was why I was walking, all hope of life gone from my head, to meet my final destiny. I walked to my death.

"_Tanith__!" a voice sounded behind me, "Tanith, here it's me!" I turned slowly to see what I feared, the past before my eyes. I would recognise his face anywhere, those eyes that you could get lost in so easily, the lopsided smile that took me back to the good times and the distinctive scars that ran from the top of his head and down the rest of his body._

"_I'm coming, love!" I shouted back through the sound of gunshot and swords clanging together. I saw him laid on the grass not so far away from me, there was no fighting going on near him, it was almost like he was in his own protective bubble. I pushed through the fighters and finally reach him. He smiled, a smile that made my heart melt the first time I ever saw it. _

"_Love, are you alright?" I asked wondering why he is layed on the ground. Then I see the blood, seeping through his cotton shirt, staining it the colour of death._

"_No, darling, I love you, more than anyone." He started but his words were so quiet all I could hear over the sounds of war are a few syllables of his speech._

"_Save your breath, love, you will need it,"_

"_No, I am supposed to die, but I want it to be with you," he reached up to grab my hand and lowered it to his mouth before brushing it with his lips. A tear rolled down my cheek and onto his._

"_I love you Ghastly__, with all my heart." I said and another tear joined the first one. I held him until I felt the last breath leave his body; he smiled and looked at me for the final time._

"_Why are you smiling?" I asked, barely managing to whisper._

"_Because I'm with" but the final word was to__o quiet to hear and Ghastly's head became limp. I put my head against his and kissed his cheek._

"_Goodbye Ghastly__," I said "Until we meet again, love."_

_The wind carried my voice far away so even I didn't hear the words I spoke but Ghastly did, wherever he was. I touched my head to his one final time and close his eyes._

_One thought got through the memories that were swarming my brain. Vengeance. It's not what Ghastly would have wanted I chastised myself, but it's what I want the other part of my subconscious argued back, I couldn't let her get away with this. I had to kill her, I owed that much to Valkyrie, Darquesse could not be allowed to continue. __I stood slowly letting Ghastly's head drop gently to the floor, I vowed that I would come back for him; I would keep him safe for the rest of my days. And so I walked away from the carnage and the loved ones I so dearly cared for and set out to find Darquesse and I knew that wherever she was that she knew I would be coming for her._

And I was still walking, every step I took away from Ghastly was pure agony but I needed to be strong. Every step I took made and ache in my heart more painful yet powered me on to move another step. This was how I made my journey to Darquesse, one step at a time. I relived that past so many times, each time I remembered one more detail until I was sure my recount of it was perfect. I would remember Ghastly as he was on the good days. There were dead on the streets, many people I didn't know but had joined in the fight against Darquesse to protect their families, friends and loved ones, some I did know but didn't like, some I knew and did like. To my astonishment the next body I laid my eyes on was one I knew well, a friend I had fought alongside, the most indestructible man I knew, the most feared man on the planet before Darquesse, not always a good guy but always wanting justice and hardly ever getting it. The skeleton detective, broken into pieces and thrown aside like he was nothing, oh how wrong Darquesse was to think she could kill him, her teacher, her best friend. Skulduggery Pleasant. All I could see was his head and for that I was glad. I kept walking; walking to the beat of my heart that was so loud in my ears I could hear nothing else. Not that there was anything else to hear. Each of the dead I passed I mourned silently, even the one I didn't know, even the ones I didn't like for they all had had the courage to stand up and fight with us. We became, for the first time in the history of the universe a united, magical and mortal army. I hoped that one day when I was dead, and hopefully so was Darquesse, that people would mourn me like I mourned their family and friends. If the population of the earth ever recovered. I would have to set out to find the survivors, there had to be more than just me.

_The sun shone down on the park and the trees stopped it from hitting my face full blast. It made a beautiful pattern on the long grass when the sunlight dappled through the leaves of the trees. We were sat on a picnic blanket, Skulduggery's façade face was playing up again and his nose kept sliding around his face in the funniest way. It made Valkyrie laugh every time it moved, even the slightest. That made me laugh too. Ghastly's clothes were amazing; they kept you cool in the summer but super toasty in the winter. I was wearing my new clothes designed and made by Ghastly, of course, and Val was wearing hers too. Skulduggery, as per usual, was wearing an immaculate suit also designed and made by Ghastly but his without all the protective enchantments that our, living people's, had. _

"_One Coke for Valkyrie, one bottle of Water for Tanith and one Ginger beer for me," came Ghastly's voice from behind me and a can of Coke flew above my head, Val caught it in one hand. Ghastly was wearing his façade face too but his was only to cover up the scars he had been born with. Ghastly wasn't the same with out the scars running down his face but he was still gorgeous to me. _

"_Why are we here anyway?" asked Skulduggery. He was never cheery when the sun was out because he said it made his bones itch but then he was hardly ever cheery on a normal day._

"_Aaaaahhhhh!" I screamed and a trickle of ice cold water went down my back. "GHASTLY!" he had thought that I wasn't listening to him and so had put my water against the back of my neck. _

"_What, are you listening now?" he asked._

"_I'm gonna kill you." I whispered to him. But he had already gone, set of running and was dodging behind trees not too far away. I hauled myself off the blanket and chased after him. Ghastly was fast. But I was faster and caught up with him in no time. He stopped and sat on an embankment and I went and sat next to him, the sin was just going down._

"_Beautiful," I said "Absolutely stunning."_

"_That's what I was thinking," murmured Ghastly, looking at me._

"_Why can't it be like this all the time?" I asked. _

"_Be like what?" he replied._

"_Never be alone…" I paused and Ghastly sighed; I knew what was coming next._

"_You, will never be alone, Tanith." He finished and leant forward. His lips brushed mine then he was pulling me to my feet and we were walking back to the others, hand in hand. _

_You will never be alone. _


	2. Chapter 1  The Figure in the Long Coat

Chapter 1 – The Figure in the Long Coat

That road led onto another road that led onto another, each road as deserted as the last. I had tried to catch up to the figure in the full length coat but he had already left, where to? I didn't know. I had to find the survivors before Darquesse did, before she ruined the only life that was left on earth. It was night time when I stopped looking for him, I needed somewhere to sleep. I rounded the corner and there before my eyes, the one place I knew I could find a bed for the night. The sign on the out side of the shop read:

**Bespoke Tailor's For Fine Clothing and Footwear**

I was home. I knew all the security codes and where the traps were and how to deactivate them, so I stepped inside the small shop's reception area and flicked on a light. It was decorated exactly as it had been the last time I was here; with massive rolls of multi- coloured materials hanging from ceiling to floor. It was a magnificent sight and still took my breath away. All different ribbons were threaded through the beams in the roof and Ghastly would stand on the small step ladder that stood in the corner of the room to get whichever ribbon he needed. It was me who made the sign above the door because I couldn't remember which little building Ghastly lived in when I first met him. Nothing had been moved out of place and the building had not been entered during the great war. I felt as if I could have gone into the kitchen and if I strained against the door, heard the whirring of Ghastly's sewing machine as it hemmed a new tunic for Valkyrie. Yet it couldn't happen, I knew that. Still my imagination ran wild, I opened the door slowly expecting Ghastly to jump out from behind it. No one was there. I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips before I had time to stop it. I had the oddest feeling that someone else was in the shop and so I went and inspected every little corner I knew of. Twice. Alone, yet again. I didn't want to go upstairs to the lounge where we would sit and drink hot chocolate and chat late into the night, where we would listen to Skulduggery rant about his bad days and Valkyrie chirp about her good days and what she was learning in her training time with the Necromancers and Skulduggery. I had made Ghastly get a small TV and DVD Player so that I could show him my favourite films and we would cuddle together and watch them. Some of them were silly rom- coms and some were dramas. It didn't matter to Ghastly, he would watch them, even when I fell asleep in the middle of them. I made the executive decision to sleep on the sofa in the back room before realizing, with a pang of regret that I would have to go through the lounge to get to the linen cupboard for the spare pillows and sheets. Reluctantly, I took the first few steps and then thought that it was warm enough to sleep without a cover and the sofa had pillows on it anyway.

I fell into an uneasy sleep, constantly thrashing and writhing around, I dreamt that I was somewhere unfamiliar and frightening, and I wasn't alone.

_Remember me Tanith, we used to be friends and I wanted you to come with me. You could have helped me with my army but you just couldn't let go of him. Then I wouldn't have to kill you. The thought popped into my head and formed a picture that was clouded with fog. A face I once knew, once loved. She was like my sister until. Well until she was pushed over the edge. Then we were in the dark times, Darquesse ruled with the power of fear, rid the world of the Sanctuary that brought the discovery of magic to light. I don't need you I thought, the only one I need is Ghastly. My unconscious mind sent me whirring into a dream that was already half way over. I was sat outside in the days before Darquesse turned against us, on the terrace of my favourite coffee shop, a quaint little place on the corner of a little street that held around five cottages. I was sat at my table in the corner of the terrace with a cappuccino and a book: Dante's Inferno. A chill went down my spine and the scene changed before me, I was walking down the same street but during the dark days that followed the days of Darquesse, every little cottage set aflame burning with their inhabitants screaming for mercy. The sky so dark it was permanent night time. Every street was the same, all the people screaming for the same thing. A life of monotony, dark monotony. The scene changed one more time to reveal the house on Cemetery Road, guarded by the White Cleaver, the indestructible man. All the people I knew were inside and I out, waiting for the attack on the house to take place. Darquesse knew, as I did that no one with only one specification like Adept or Elemental or Necromancer would be able to infiltrate the house. China had put up the tightest security that her own branch of magic had allowed, so had Skulduggery, myself and Valkyrie, before she turned to Darquesse but the problem was that Darquesse knew three forms of magic. Adept from myself, Elemental from Skulduggery and Necromancy from the Necromancers. Only China's Symbols would keep Darquesse from entering the building to watch her friends die. I knew what was to happen next, the house would be lit from the back, smoke would billow from the devastating scene yet my friends would not scream, they would not give Darquesse the satisfaction of knowing that she had hurt them both physically and mentally. She had played with their brains made them think that she was really on their side up until the last minute then killed everyone that stood in her path. Skulduggery could not look at her anymore for if he did he would see Valkyrie not Darquesse whom she had become when she she killed the first person. A man's face swam into view, not unfamiliar just forgotten. He seemed concerned about something or someone. And suddenly I remembered._

"_Tanith, are you alright?" he bellowed or so it seemed in the quietness of the dream. I could not see his eyes, it was too dark. _

"_Tanith, come on, wake up!" this time he really was yelling and shaking me violently. I did not wake, I was in too deep a sleep for the shaking and shouting to awake me. _

"_Tanith, Tanith, Tan..." the last syllable of my name was silent and the man, whom I realized was someone I once knew, keeled over in pain beyond belief. This shocking image was the one that brought reality swimming to the surface of my subconscious. _

I was suddenly aware of the situation that I had awoken to. A man in an exquisitely tailored long coat was sat with his back to the sofa, gasping for breath and clutching at his chest. I grabbed one pillow in each hand from the sofa and knelt behind the man's hatted head. Three... the man was obviously in a lot of pain and was the one from my dream. He cared about my welfare as he had shown from trying to wake me up. Two... but the pillows surely wouldn't hurt him, just stun him long enough for me to see who he was and decide whether or not he was a threat. One... I was too late. The man had moved and at the same time lit his hands with fire, I threw my pillows but it did no good against his fire. And then it was over, he crumpled to the floor and I saw that his hands weren't hands, they were bones. As were his face and neck. I crawled my way over to his warily, he should be dead, I had seen him on my walk here, I had grieved for him yet left him behind for I thought I could do nothing. And here he was, sitting before me in ravenous pain.

"Skulduggery?" I half screamed and half asked. I was still weary because he had attacked my pillows with his fiery hands. He looked up and smiled with his skeletal teeth which were actually the only things in his body that were normal.

"Yes, Tanith are you alright?"

"YOU! JERK!" I screamed at him punching out and losing control completely. "YOU ARE DEAD!"

"Well yes but we've known that for a while," he replied placidly

"I MEAN REALLY DEAD!"

"Tanith, how many times do you suppose a man can die?"

"Is that a trick question?" I had finally regained control over my voice and, although it shook, I was no longer shouting.

"Dear Tanith, of course it is a trick question, it's like you never knew me!" the said chuckling whilst I just stared at him in disbelief. How could he laugh at a time like this? At at time where we could be the only two people alive, at a time when his best friends have either died or turned evil? I started to turn away from him, it was only 3 am so I could get a few more hours of disturbed sleep before I set out around the world to see if anyone else was left. Be optimistic, Tanith, I thought to myself, of course other people are left, Darquesse can't have killed them all in one night. Or could she?

"Wait, Tanith I'm sorry I know it isn't funny but it's my way of dealing with this," he was pleading with me, I didn't realize it at first but he was almost begging me to understand that he was finding this just as hard as I was but he had to deal with it in different ways to me. And somehow I did understand, it didn't matter that he had executed my pillows or laughed at something so barbaric. He was Skulduggery Pleasant, he had never let me down yet and I wasn't about to start suspecting him when he could be the only other person alive.

"I am," He said, I just looked at him. "The only other person on this planet that isn't decomposing as we speak." he said it in a matter of fact tone that suggested he had thought this over a great number of times before now. Great, so now the skeleton detective was an awesome fighter, a mastermind when it came to making plans and he could read minds, my life was just getting better.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Skulduggery was asking me what to do. Skulduggery never asked anyone what to do, he always knew.

"I don't know," I replied, shamefully. I was not like Skulduggery, I didn't always have some witty remark or back chat to come back with or some master plan that went wrong somewhere but always managed to turn out right in the end. I wasn't filled from the tips of my pointy shoes to the tip of my top hat with sarcasm that was just waiting to explode out of me. Skulduggery was a man of mystery and to those who didn't know him like I did somewhat frightening. He could be many things, a friend, an enemy or an ally.

"Well then, it's a good job I do." he finished and for one moment he was the same old Skulduggery, with his wicked grin, but the moment was over almost before it had begun and the skeletal face of my only friend was sombre once again.

When he stood he was cast in shadow, his face was unidentifiable, he was the figure in the long cloak.


	3. Chapter 2 Skulduggery has a plan kind of

Chapter 2 – Skulduggery has a Plan (Kind of)

"Ah,"Skulduggery gasped in pain. I hadn't yet found out what was wrong with him but it was causing him a lot of hassle.

"Skulduggery? What's wrong with you?" I asked finally giving up the pretence of not knowing what was going on behind me.

"I don't know what you mean!" he answered defiantly, he tried to stand up straight but winced and grimaced when his back was stretched. "Fine! Fine! But don't blame me for wanting to be brave and manly!" he pulled the immaculate jacket, which I noted was probably made by Ghastly, apart to reveal a bony rib cage. It was grotesquely deformed, all the ribs twisted into impossible shapes and poking out at odd angles. There was a kind of liquid oozing from the ends of his bones, I supposed it was his blood. The inside of his jacket was covered in the same kind of stuff.

"What..." I stammered "Happened?"

"See I told you, it's horrible, and to answer your question Valk-... Darquesse happened." he finished rather awkwardly. Both Skulduggery and I knew that he would have given all the bones in his body to protect Valkyrie from anything that he thought might hurt her even in the slightest.

"So, you're telling me the reason you didn't tell me that Darquesse used your ribs as bendy straws was to protect me from the horror of the grotesque bones that used to be them? Or maybe it was to shield your pride, or could it possibly be because you are too stubborn to ask for help even from me who has been through hell and back again!" I said getting more frantic as my speech went on. I didn't realize quite how manic I was until Skulduggery looked concerned for my sanity.

"Calm down, I was making a joke the atmosphere was so heavy in here it was crushing my bones."he half smiled and looked away. I knew he was just trying to help but it really wasn't working.

"What is your plan?" I asked relieved that he wasn't mad at me for ranting at him.

"We go to Roarhaven, to the Sanctuary, get me healed and then go out and find Darquesse and F-... someone else, who I fear might be the inly person able to stop her. If he isn't dead already."

"Who else Skulduggery?" I said with trepidation in my voice. I didn't have the slightest idea who might be the only one who could bring Darquesse back to Valkyrie.

"Trust me,"

The cold night air tickled my skin. The park was old and neglected, the swings flew up and down in the wind. It was dull there. There was once a time when children's laughter filled the air as they rushed form the climbing frame to the big slide. That all changed. Now everything was covered in dust and graffiti, the climbing frame had acquired burn marks from where some teenagers had set it alight. I had been there that night, I had watched the flames lick up the side of the wood. I hadn't said said a word. Only stood there and observed. Only one of the original swings was was whole, two of them had chunks cut out of them or were dangling down on one side, the baby swings were both wrapped around the top of the frame work. A thick fog loomed ominously over the whole place. Memories of times when I was young hit me with a staggering force but I closed my eyes and welcomed them. I was five and learning to ride my bike without training wheels, I was crying and dad came and picked me up, I had fallen off but nevertheless I had ridden without stabilizers. I was nine and me, mum and dad had taken my little cousin Lyssa to play on the swings, it was summer and we ate ice creams and watched her play. Then all I could remember was fire, teenagers again, they had started a wildfire just beyond the little park, dad had gone to put it out and...tears welled up in my eyes.

I could smell the damp, feel the mud sliding under my feet. I couldn't hear a thing, the sound of a crow, black as the dead of night, cawing loudly form a near by willow tree caught my attention. It was old, I could tell by the way it leaned right, the bottom branches almost touching the grass below. They twisted up as if grabbing for me, then I closed my eyes. One... two... three I started counting, four... five... six close your eyes and count to ten if things get too much, I could hear dad voice in my head, seven... eight... nine... ten open you eyes. Skulduggery was looking at me with a confused look on his face but didn't push me to explain for him. We continued on, past the old park, down the main street towards the old sanctuary. Upon arrival at the old building I was aware that we were being watched, Skulduggery though seemed oblivious to this and continued like nothing had happened.

"She's here..." he whispered and I wondered what he meant but did not press him on the matter. I guess that was my way of thanking him for not questioning me. I found that it did not take long for me to find out who Skulduggery was referring to: China Sorrows.

"So you plan to just walk into the sanctuary, steal the ruby and stop Darquesse on your own?" this was some time later when China had stepped out and we had gone to the rear entrance of the crumbling stone building. China had explained to me that the Ruby held that power from the faceless ones to restore the bad to their former states, she said that this would only work on villains that had been good once and that we would get one chance to turn back time and stop the moment that turned Valkyrie evil.

"No, I plan to walk into sanctuary, borrow the ruby and stop Darque-"

"How is that any different to what I said?"asked China, cutting Skulduggery off mid word.

"Well, firstly I said borrow the ruby which is much nicer than stealing and true because we are going to give it back anyway, and if you would have let me finish I was about to say... with Tanith therefore I would not be alone!"

And so that was it, our plan, we get the ruby, we get back Valkyrie.


	4. Chapter 3  A Disastrous Failure

Chapter 3 – A Disastrous Failure

Skulduggery was not known for carrying out the simplest plans, nor was he known for his tact and so, in true Skulduggery style, we went at the plan head first. Well, feet first really, he spotted an open window on the roof and jumped straight through it!

"I'm not doing that." I shouted down to him for there was no fear of being overheard. The sanctuary, where it had been fully functioning and filled to the brim with prim and proper magicians, was now as desolate as the open countryside. Not a soul around to see them enter the building.

"I'll catch you!" she bellowed back up, holding his arms out in a meant to be comforting way. It did not work.

"Where's the door?" I asked, hoping that he would just tell me and let me catch up with him.

"Now, now, Tanith we both know the importance of sticking together in dangerous places, so you'll just have to jump." he smiled his toothy smile and nodded, presumable to inspire confidence in my jumping into his arms. It was rather creepy though and, yet again, did not want to make me jump through the roof of the sanctuary.

"Come on, Tanith!" He was getting exasperated with me and I could tell it was making him think of the pain that must be burning inside his ribs.

"Fine, fine, are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he called back at me. So I jumped. It was just unfortunate that Skulduggery took that moment to double in pain. The floor was very hard. This my shoulder found out the hard way.

"Tanith! Are you alright?" asked Skulduggery the moment he got over his own pain. "I'm so sorry," he gushed on. My head was spinning, I could swear that it was splitting into many tiny pieces. Ah, well at least I know I'm alive, I thought.

"Come on, get up, we have to move." said Skulduggery, after getting his apologies out of the way. I knew this was true, so I staggered to my feet and gripped the arm Skulduggery offered. We made our way slowly through the maze of tunnels and chambers that had made up one of the most grand sanctuaries the magical world had ever seen. Many of the valuable possessions we magicians had striven to secure throughout the ages had been stolen following the downfall of the sanctuary. I just hoped that the ruby Skulduggery searched for so fervently was not one of the aforementioned rarities.

I was sceptical as we weaved in and out of multiple rooms. I did not know there were this many rooms in the sanctuary, perhaps Skulduggery was taking me through rooms that we had already been in. Of course, we had always known that the Sanctuary had been deserted yet it was still eerie not to see the hustle and bustle of government life going on inside those very tunnels. Finally, I recognized where we were stood. The entrance to the Sanctuary had not been completely destroyed and a small part of the door still stood in place, enough for us to get through.

"We're leaving?" I asked, feeling thoroughly disappointed that our search seemed to accomplished nothing at all.

"It is not here." Skulduggery said trying to sound nonchalant thought I knew that inside he really wanted that ruby, what ever it did.

Skulduggery pushed his way through the rubble to the remnants of the door and stepped through it without a backwards glance. The voice sounded just as I was about to step out into the open. It terrified me so much that I could not move, whether I wanted to or not.

"Skulduggery Pleasant," it spoke in a voice so familiar yet so hated it sent shivers down my spine, "you have been searching my Sanctuary for the past hour and a half for an antique which has not been there since before the Sanctuary passed over to me."

"It is not your Sanctuary, you do not possess the deeds to it, the people of Roarhaven still have that advantage and it rightfully belongs to any magical person upon this earth." Skulduggery, of course, was correct. The laws of our world stated that upon the down fall of the magical government that the Sanctuaries of the world belonged to the community they served.

Yet a doubt formed in my chest, as it had so many times of late, _she_ had changed so many of our laws, twisted and deformed them much like she had Skulduggery's bones. Suddenly an anger, white hot, was coursing through my body, causing me to act so rashly I did not believe what I was doing. I stepped out from the Sanctuary, in front of Skulduggery. I threw all I could find at Darquesse and then launched at her myself. I scratched her face, arms, neck, any bare skin I could get to really. Leaving trails of red down her arms, her blood beaded on her skin but I kept scratching and biting and hitting until one of her guards awoke from his momentary lapse of shock and dragged me off of her. Skulduggery had gone, just as I hoped he would, in the minuted when the chaos ensued. He was the only hope left of getting Valkyrie back from the clasp of Darquesse.

I felt a prick on my neck as the guard who had thrown me off his superior thrust a needle full of an odd purple-ish liquid into my neck and squeezed the plunger down. I felt the liquid enter my blood stream strangely warm and velvety. My eyelids began to drop and all my anger faded. If this was what it was like to die then I welcomed it. My head lolled to one side but I was either unable or unwilling to right it and so it stayed there. This fatal injection seemed to addle my brain, making me too exhausted to differentiate between what I wanted to do and what it wanted me to do. I had no idea whether the need to close my eyes was exactly that or a false pretence given to me by the concoction. I was vaguely aware of being carried to the back of a startlingly white van. Valkyrie never did like things to be messy.

I laughed; one; almost hysteric; bark. I remember it seemed to amuse me that _she, _my old friend, would let me die so peacefully, so easily. Maybe there was still some of Valkyrie left in her. By now my body was shaking with the cold that spreading like ice through my fingers, up my arms to my heart, where it went out in all directions. I was shivering so violently that the guard actually dropped me. He waited, it seemed, to see if I was going to move. I tried to . It was no use, I no longer had control over my legs. It must have pleased Darquesse to see me struggle as I was, limp on the hard ground, because she put a hand on the thug-ish guard's shoulder to prevent him from lifting once more. She bent down low over me and smiled a satisfied smile that made me writhe, that made me try harder to get up and grab her once again.

"Now you know what it was like to be the one always ignored, the one with no control over what happened." she snarled.

She nodded at the guard who seemed to enjoy seeing me sob with the effort of willing my body to move. He watched me for a few more moments as I got more and more hysterical. I began to weep erratically. I felt his big, black boot push into the soft flesh of my abdomen but did not give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his attack. He chuckled as he hoisted me back over his shoulder and I would have liked nothing more than to punch him until he no longer had control, unfortunately my arms, too, had abandoned me.

"Only the weak cry," he hissed at me through clenched teeth. I was paralyzed from head to toe now. I was weak with exhaustion and so I guessed that I had an excuse for whimpering as I realized what was happening to me. In a sense it was nice not to feel the pain that so many go through. To just fade out. For a while it had been what I had wanted. With the world gone mad, my best friend turned against us. So many people had died fighting, in pain. I would just slip away and yet a part of was saying no, that I didn't want to. If I were to die it would be attempting to kill Darquesse, I were to die I would make sure that I took her with me. The curious liquid was turning my blood to lead in my veins. The last thought in my head was not of Ghastly or my friends and family.

_I don't want to die._


End file.
